Fiber strip.



UNITED STATES Patented July 19, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FIBER STRIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 765,238, dated July 19,1904.

Application filed May 3, 1904. Serial No. 206,179. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC H. GOODMAN, of Philadelphia, in the State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FiberStrips, whereof the following is a specification.

Fiber strips are made by treating fiat slivers of fibrous material witha cementing material, such as glue, and when slit into ribbons andplaited are employed for millinery and dress trimmings. Such strips areusually made wholly of ramie fibers, wholly of silk fibers, or wholly ofwool fibers, and although the ribbons or other trimmings formed fromsuch strips possess considerable longitudinal strength they aredisintegrated when subjected to slight transverse strains.

I have discovered that by properly mixing a vegetable fiber, such asramie, with an animal fiber, such as wool, a strip may be formed havinga greater capacity to resist transverse strains than a strip made ofeither material alone.

Whatever may be the nature of the fiber employed in the manufacture ofsuch strips, the cementing material must be employed in very limitedquantity, as otherwise the strip not only loses its luster, but is sobrittle that it breaks when plaited. The quantity of cementing materialbeing necessarily limited, as aforesaid, to insure the requiredpliability of such strips, their uses have been much limited by reasonof their tendency to disintegrate under lateral strains. This isespecially true of strips formed wholly of wool fibers,which do notreadily receive the cementing material. Consequently a Woolen strip isexceedingly fragile under lateral strains, appearing to derive itsstrength from the mere interlacing and incipient felting of the fibersresulting from their crinkled form rather than from any adhesion due tothe cement. On the contrary, ramie fiber is fluffy, (the same is true ofother vegetable fibers,) and the fluff becomes entangled in the glue, sothat there is considerable adhesion between parallel fibers. However,owing to the straightness of the ramie fibers they tend to lie parallelin the sliver, so that no lateral strength of a ramiegber strip isderived from interlacing of the hers.

I have discovered that as a result of the intermixture of a crinkledanimal fiber with a straight or flufiy vegetable fiber I obtain a sliverto which the glue is able to adhere tenaciously, and the resulting stripwhile lacking the brittleness of the ramie strip possesses greaterlateral coherence and strength than is possessed by either the all-woolor all-ramie strip.

I obtain further advantages as a result of such a mixture in that theramie imparts to the strip the desired degree of resilience and luster,while the wool in addition to imparting strength is a cheaper materialand makes the product less expensive than if it were composedexclusively of ramie.

In the practice of my invention I take about equal quantities of avegetable fiber-for instance, ramie-and an animal fiber-for instance,wooland intimately intermix them. Then a flat sliver of the mixedfiberssay six to twelve inches in breadthis led through a drumcontaining a heated solution of glue. After passing between rollers bywhich the glue is expressed the flatly-pressed strip is finished bybeing dried.

It is to be understood that I do not desire to limit myself to theparticular fibers above named or to the employment of equal parts of thedifferent fibers in the mixture.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A fiber strip, composedof an intermixture of animal and vegetable fibers united by an adhesive,substantially as described.

2. A fiber strip, composed of an intermixture of ramie and wool fibersunited by an adhesive, substantially as described.

3. A fiber strip, composed of an intermixture of ramie and wool fibers,in approximatelyequal parts united by an adhesive, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name, at Philadelphia.Pennsylvania, this 2d day of May, 1904.

ISAAC H. GOODMAN.

Witnesses: ARTHUR E. PAIGE, J OSEPH H. HINLEIN.

